Dirty bore

[varsity07840]

I'm scratching my head over this one. I shoot and original percussion rifle that probably dates to 1850. It was originally a .32 and I had Bobby Hoyt fresh it out to .45. I clean the bore as usual and the dry patches look good. When I run a patch with Rig it comes out dirty. Today, I put a grey scotch brite soaked in bore cleaner on a .36 jag and scrubbed it. The $#@* that came out was black. Could this be due to the more porous cast iron barrel soaking up oils/solvents when it was freshed out?  The bore always looks clean with a bobber light and it shoots near one hole at 25 yards.

[Scota4570]

The black stuff could iron being removed?

[varsity07840]

The black stuff could iron being removed?

Could be. I remember Greg Dixon telling me that you could never get a clean patch out of "those old barrels". We were talking about rifled musket Civil War barrels, but I guess it might apply overall. I gave up trying to get my original 1863 Springfield to give me white patches along time ago and it's a tack driver. It's not relined.

[D. Taylor Sapergia]

After an iron barrel has had all of the fouling removed, and even a steel barrel will do this as well, a patch with 'solvent' on it will come out coloured - dark grey, black and sometimes red.  If the bore is smooth and is clean, leave it at that.  Use a rust inhibiting oil on a dry patch and leave it alone.  What you are doing is causing a chemical reaction and removing metal, not fouling.

[Daryl]

Leave the 'dirty' patches outside over night. They will likely be rusty in the morning, from the iron oxides you microscopically removed from the bore with the patch.

After I dry a bore, the last couple patches seem to pull greyish or even dark grey making streaks. I douse the bore with copious amounts of WD40, then patch that out. The WD40 patches are
wet with that stuff and ZERO colour. In the morning the drying patches are all rusted. This happens with ALL of my MLs.

[hanshi]

I know that I seldom get a perfectly white patch out of my rifles bore.  I'll clean a bore until it looks pristine and patches initially come out clean.  But I'll dry the bore with alcohol then WD40 and get gray patches.  After I get all of that out it's time for rust preventative treatment.  For me that means Barricade.  So when I patch Barricade down the mirror-bright, dry bore; guess what happens.  The patch comes out quite stained.  As long as the bore (seems clean to me) is good and clean I rust proof it and put it away.  So far no actual rust in any rifle bores including one about 55 yoa.

[bob in the woods]

What everyone else said.  I don't use solvent for cleaning my muzzleloaders.  Water is all I need, and when clean, which only takes a few patches, One more with WD40 and that's it.  I'll probably shoot it again in a day or two anyway.
If not, then a good coat of bear oil does it for me.

[Dphariss]

I'm scratching my head over this one. I shoot and original percussion rifle that probably dates to 1850. It was originally a .32 and I had Bobby Hoyt fresh it out to .45. I clean the bore as usual and the dry patches look good. When I run a patch with Rig it comes out dirty. Today, I put a grey scotch brite soaked in bore cleaner on a .36 jag and scrubbed it. The $#@* that came out was black. Could this be due to the more porous cast iron barrel soaking up oils/solvents when it was freshed out?  The bore always looks clean with a bobber light and it shoots near one hole at 25 yards.

Could be iron oxide.
If its red with it dries, if wet with water, its ferric.

[Levy]

I think that some of it might be the Scotchbrite breaking down during the trips up and down the bore.  James Levy

[Scota4570]

Take the scotchbrite and wet it.  Scrub the outside of the barrel where the stock hides it.  Wipe the sludge off the barrel with a clean patch.   You will find it looks as described in the OP.  Scotchbrite has abrasives bonded in to the weave.  IT is abrasive,  just like sandpaper.  It removes metal when you rub, that is what it is supposed to do.  Scrubbing with scotchbrite will round over the rifling lands.  Not good. 

[Daryl]

I'm scratching my head over this one. I shoot and original percussion rifle that probably dates to 1850. It was originally a .32 and I had Bobby Hoyt fresh it out to .45. I clean the bore as usual and the dry patches look good. When I run a patch with Rig it comes out dirty. Today, I put a grey scotch brite soaked in bore cleaner on a .36 jag and scrubbed it. The $#@* that came out was black. Could this be due to the more porous cast iron barrel soaking up oils/solvents when it was freshed out?  The bore always looks clean with a bobber light and it shoots near one hole at 25 yards.

SRY - I didn't read the opening post closely enough before opening up my big mouth.  As Scota4570 notes varsity, you were removing metal - that is why the sludge was black. ScotchBrite is an abrasive of varying strengths depending on the colour. I've used the maroon colour to help smooth a bore that had a rough, fouling packing area up from the breech. This effort "saved" the bore for the lady. Yes - it removed 'some' metal, - patches black until we got it all out, but smoothed that area up (full length strokes only) and the rifling did not appear to be injured. After the smooth-up, she shot very well indeed on the trails, well enough to grace the winner's circle several times, IIRC.